This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
New computer setup and re-imaging is a process conducted on computing devices associated with various types of businesses and organizations, as well as personal users. Generally, due to the numerous steps and technical knowledge required, such a process is conducted by information technology (IT) personnel associated with an organization. The IT personnel can either physically conduct the setup at the location of an end-user's computing device or, alternatively, guide the end-user through the setup procedure via one or more helpdesk phone calls. Either process is time consuming and depletes IT resources, especially in the case of an organization that is geographically dispersed across numerous regions. Still further, such a process requires an end-user to wait on the phone with a help desk or standby while IT personnel works on their computer. Such downtime is inefficient and costly for large organizations and as well as small organizations.
Furthermore, with the increased amount of end-users working from home, there is an additional challenge of enabling imaging and personalization processes from locations other than the inoffice Intranet environment. Besides the logistical issues, other challenges such as the organization's firewall or slow Internet connectivity make imaging and personalization of a computing device located outside the inoffice Intranet environment difficult.
The invention as disclosed herein aims to alleviate at least some of the above discussed problems.